The line-ups are in, the espresso’s been pulled and we’re just about set to get going on a big, big (big) North London Derby. The early kick-off is tough–especially if you’re watching in California as I am this morning. Still, I did not need an alarm to get up for this one, 4:30 am kickoff and all. As an extra bonus, my television coverage is in 4K this morning so I can see every straggly hair of Mesut Ozil’s “beard.” Good times…

So, what do you think? The Arsenal set up is exactly as I thought it would be. My biggest surprise is that Theo Walcott hasn’t made the bench. With Olivier Giroud also out due to injury that leaves not a lot of attacking power in reserve. The Totts line-up seems fairly aggressive given that I rate Moussa Sissoko as a very undisciplined player who cannot stop his attacking instincts no matter where he’s positioned. The other Moussa–Dembele, however, is a strong presence in the center of the pitch as is Eric Dier. Do Arsenal catch a break with Toby Alderwiereld out injured? Perhaps. My thought is that our own defense will need to be plenty strong to contain the likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen.

Yours?

As much difficulty as Arsenal has gone through in this early season–it all goes out the window when we face the old enemy from up the Seven Sisters.

Oooh, good chance there as Lacazette’s pressing deflects a ball to Alexis. He gives it back and we have numbers but Laca decides to go alone and blasts over… Passing to the streaking Ramsey might have been the better option…

Excellent work from Ramsey and Bellerin sets Laca past the back line. His cross is two touched in by Alexis… The left footed first touch cushioned perfectly to finish with his right into the top of the net from point-blank range…

Great display lads bloody proud. My only concern is we go down to 10 men. Whilst I believe we could stick about 6 away. I would be very happy if we bored ourselves to death in the 2nd half and won 2 -0

Alexis and Mike dean going off the field in discussion. I wonder in what language they are communicating. Lol.

Well, it’s just 2-0 and still a lot to play for here. It is the derby and we’ve seen goals in this fixture. We need to maintain the intensity and be a bit more efficient with our passing when the opportunity comes to pick them off as they chase it.

retsub–
While walking Runway just now– I thought about replacing Xhaka with Coquelin at the 60min mark.
Also– while considering that the next goal will be the key?
That no next goal would suit me even better.

With Xhaka on a yellow, anyone think he may choose to preserve the 11 and make an early change? Jack or Coquelin?

We’ve played well and no one can question the effort. As always, the derby is hard to predict and you always felt with all the talk about some “shift in North London”, we needed to prove a point. We are not that kind of team or I’ll be advocating we get someone to rile up Dele Alli into lashing out, so they go down to 10men. 😀

Don’t do anything stupid now, lads. We’ve got this under control. Ramsey must cut out the flicks in our area, for God’s sake! He’s playing against a rival and he can showboat at the edge of our box?

Alright then… Got that coffee–and even a little breakfast–into my belly… Very nice…

I like the pressing at the front and 2nd lines but Spurs, Eriksen esp., move the ball smartly if they can break through. Kos and Mustafi have worked very well in tandem to stop them from getting any really good chances. We may not have a big shot total but we created a lot of dangerous situations… Total dominance in terms of corners and FKs too…

Mustafi, after missing out on header vs Kane, lashes out and sees yellow… The FK looks dangerous but we clear… Or almost clear. In the end, Dembele’s cross is too lofted and Kane can only head weakly to Cech…

Oooh… Ugly challenge at the back by Kane on Xhaka. That looked bad and Harry goes in the book…

Kola tackles a ball away from Eriksen and into touch. Bellerin does likewise on the other side but keeps it in to get us moving on the counter… Doesn’t quite get to Alexis back once it’s reversed again…

Monreal shown a yellow for a tackle on Dele Alli. And Lacazette brought off for Coquelin. Let’s hope he doesn’t cock up one. That will give the crowd and media something to moan about his decision making.

Much better from Iwobi with a long thoughball for Alexis to set us on the break… Ramsey (I think) sets up the Nigerian but he dawdles and his shot is blocked. Alexis picks up another blocked effort (by Kola) can’t work it to anybody on the right to shoot it though both Bells and Xhaka tried…

Very nice… I thought Mustafi and Kos where huge in the middle for us with Xhaka helping to give Spurs just about nothing through the center of the pitch. They had a few dangerous looking crosses but again the CBs were on hand as needed. Ozil? Finally appreciated for running the show in MF and even defending a bit? Alexis also showed his class in several spots. What else?

We came close (on the break) retsub, but yeah, we don’t put them away quite like City (for example) do… Lloris had to make a few good saves to keep us out however. Getting off his line quickly is his specialty and that helps too…

I dunno… For me, the clean sheet is the best part. We kept Kane, Eriksen and Dele in front of us all day and Cech only had to make the one save. What was the stat on corner kicks? It felt like about 12 or 15 to their 3 or 4….

I had been a little worried for Xhaka and when Wenger took Lacazette off for Le Coq i was thinking if that decision was right. Luckily spuds could not run into Xhaka and force a second yellow, but that is a risky substitution and we were lucky in the end.

Mustafi had a good game. Defended well and attacked well. But somehow the lack of height almost cost us, with wayward shooting and a block helping us.

Good teamwork among the lads and I hope that we get our winning form over to the away form too.

Interesting stats. From that perspective it was very close and they had far more of the ball and there passing was more accurate. But from a spectator point of view we slaughtered them. I don’t want to criticise anyone, they all played very well. I can’t help thinking that a if a certain Mr Henry was still around we might have got five.

I’m not sure about that, Retsub… To me, Ozil works very hard and very professionally on a consistent basis. The frustration he shows, however, gets picked upon when results don’t go our way. He’d do better to not show it or maybe just figure out a more convincing way of pouting–Alexis, down on his haunches, comes to mind… On this day, however, I think we should salute both of our want-away guys… Their quality definitely helped secure the (much-needed) points, IMO…

To me, it was a fine team effort started with excellent positioning at the back. Two goals down it’s quite predictable that Spurs would have more possession but that’s OK as we looked pretty comfortable, I thought, when they had the ball. Our goals were a bit scruffy and it would be nice if we could convert those breaks. Still, like you say, retsub, the spectators cannot help but believe it was a well deserved victory…

17highburyterrace says:
November 18, 2017 at 14:40
I’m not sure about that, Retsub… To me, Ozil works very hard and very professionally on a consistent basis. The frustration he shows, however, gets picked upon when results don’t go our way. He’d do better to not show it or maybe just figure out a more convincing way of pouting–Alexis, down on his haunches, comes to mind……..

Agree with you 17ht. I have said it to as many as cared to hear that Ozil does play well in more games than he’s given credit for, mainly because we are wont to seek out scapegoats when the team’s results are not favourable, as more than needed have been. Admittedly, today, he had to put in a greater shift, like everyone else but when you see his stats, you’ll have to say his teammates have let him down too many times considering the chances he’s shown to create game after game.

And, yes. It is only natural that a good side will have to have more of the ball when 2 goals down, but overall, we peppered them and didn’t allow them into their rhythm. So much for the much vaunted North London power shift. Shame on the pundits/ex-players who’ve written us off. Like I said in the last thread, we were always going to bring them down a peg or two…

Ozil would get Motm but, Mustafi was immense for us, as was Koscielny.

@njk84sg: “What power shift jw1?”
The perception of one I have to wade through in the press and from commentators– and on other blogs I visit– every day. The one that Robbie Earle just mentioned verbatim on NBCSN here stateside. Could not freaking believe that the first thing that popped out of Rebecca Lowe’s mouth in-studio post-game was– “How frustrated must Arsenal’s fans be?”

Not with Arsenal. Just idiots like you Rebecca Lowe.

“What power shift jw1?”
The one that that the won-nothing-Spurs must now swallow whole with crow.
You know that NLIR– as do I.
But propaganda is a powerful force when the weak of mind are constantly exposed.

I thought I was the only person noting Mustafi (but also Koscielny) ..
I’m glad that njk, retsub and 17 mentioned what i was thinking. In that first half, they came out full of energy and drive as they usually do, especially against us, but the difference maker for us was our defenders, koscielny first, then Mustafi. Monreal, always does his job.

Not just in flawless defending, but much more so, pushing forward into midfield, overloading, giving us the big edge in that 1st half. That’s why we outplayed them, and had opportunities. It’s always a bit risky, but when it comes off, we could beat anybody.

Tottenhams cbs defend very well, (Vertonghen is a dirty player) …also because of their always conservative setup and defend at all costs gameplan. They dont have the class of our defenders to pull off that kind of performance. They would be exposed.

I’ve seen overrated Ponchettino set up with wanyama and dier, sometimes Dembele in big games, leaving 2 maybe 3 creative players.. Just as negative as Mourinho, but media never mentions it about Ponch.

Credit to Arsene, he coaches all around great footballers at all positions, not just one dimensional players.

Only managed to watch the second half and I loved our professionalism to keep out the Spuddies, keep the clean sheet and see the game out. Will watch motd to see the goals. Good to see Mesut getting the recognition today. Of those who watch Ozil live regularly rather than on TV, almost all say he is brilliant. It needs an extra dimension to appreciate his continuous contributions, it seems.

Fantastic result, could have been even better, as mentioned above, I wish we were a tad more ruthless, as there was a possible 4-0 win for us on the cards.
As it was Lloris was Tottenham’s best player, so what does that say.

Ok Kane was clearly unfit, the heavy strapping on his thigh wasn’t for effect, but he still put in a dangerous header when it was 0-0 and worryingly kept finding space in our box when the Spuds attacked. Dembele looked good for them as well, but the rest flattered to deceive….

For Arsenal it was a vindication of Wengers team selection, he picked probably the strongest first XI available to start the game, and they duly delivered.
Consistently for this Arsenal squad, is an issue, because when we play like that it just shows what this team can achieve and makes it more mystifying when they don’t bother turning up and get rolled over. That is where the fans’ frustrations come from. It has been thus for quite a few years now and why we are successful in the cups but less so in the League.

But I don’t wanna be churlish, no honest, because this was a great team performance and whilst it’s probably unfair to highlight individuals I have to mention in dispatches the enormous influence of Mustafi, straight back into the fire with no games in the tank, his performance was immense.
He had arguably his best 90 minutes in an Arsenal shirt, it was a captains performance.
Alongside him Koscielny, whose been a bit hit n miss this season imo, was calmness personified, he cruised around tidying up and basically has Harry Kane in his pocket most of the afternoon.
Finally Mesut Ozil, he was like a man possessed, chasing down opponents, making challenges, linking play, he was breaking up Spud attacks as if he was a midfield destroyer, well maybe not in the Roy Keane mould but he was equally effective. A complete performance by a complete footballer, we just need to see it more often Mesut.

It would have been nice to have seen a Jack, but he’s got some important cup ties coming up in the League and UEFA Cup. No Walcott on the bench was a big surprise. When we were leading the Spuds 2-0 Theo would have been perfect to come on and exploit the space the Totts were leaving as they attempted to get back into the game.

Fantastic result, could have been even better, as mentioned above, I wish we were a tad more ruthless, as there was a possible 4-0 win for us on the cards.
As it was Lloris was Tottenham’s best player, so what does that say.

Ok Kane was clearly unfit, the heavy strapping on his thigh wasn’t for effect, but he still put in a dangerous header when it was 0-0 and worryingly kept finding space in our box when the Spuds attacked. Dembele looked good for them as well, but the rest flattered to deceive….

For Arsenal it was a vindication of Wengers team selection, he picked probably the strongest first XI available to start the game, and they duly delivered.
Consistently for this Arsenal squad, is an issue, because when we play like that it just shows what this team can achieve and makes it more mystifying when they don’t bother turning up and get rolled over. That is where the fans’ frustrations come from. It has been thus for quite a few years now and why we are successful in the cups but less so in the League.

But I don’t wanna be churlish, no honest, because this was a great team performance and whilst it’s probably unfair to highlight individuals I have to mention in dispatches the enormous influence of Mustafi, straight back into the fire with no games in the tank, his performance was immense.
He had arguably his best 90 minutes in an Arsenal shirt, it was a captains performance.
Alongside him Koscielny, whose been a bit hit n miss this season imo, was calmness personified, he cruised around tidying up and basically has Harry Kane in his pocket most of the afternoon.
Finally Mesut Ozil, he was like a man possessed, chasing down opponents, making challenges, linking play, he was breaking up Spud attacks as if he was a midfield destroyer, well maybe not in the Roy Keane mould but he was equally effective. A complete performance by a complete footballer, we just need to see it more often Mesut.

It would have been nice to have seen a Jack, but he’s got some important cup ties coming up in the League and UEFA Cup. No Walcott on the bench was a big surprise. When we were leading the Spuds 2-0 Theo would have been perfect to come on and exploit the space the Totts were leaving as they attempted to get back into the game.

Finally, the atmosphere at the stadium was brilliant, the whole place, except for the away section, was rocking, it just goes to show how the fans can feed off of the team if the team put in the hard yards, it reminded me of the atmosphere against Bayern the season before last.

Well said Kev, Arsenal supporters can be fantastic. No better place to be than the North Bank Highbury when it was rocking. I think the move to Emirates meant a lot of the noisier characters were split up. its certainly a lot easier for away support to make noise. Particularly pleased for Alan
Sugar who commented that “Arsenal supporters are so full of respect for away supporters, we always treat them to 90 minutes of silence”.

Hi Retsub, yeah the old North Bank, especially for a night game, smaller crowds than the Emirates but the noise that place generated on big occasions was amazing.
Mind you I say smaller crowds but I’ve been in 63,000 at Highbury, my Dad experienced 72,000 back in the day, what a wonderful stadium it was.

Kev/JK, yes, Kane was strapped around his right (?) thigh but he looked fit enough. His manager even remarked that Kane and Alli had no problem he was aware of and he only took them off to have fresh legs (another way of saying they stank the place up, frankly) and in view of the midweek CL away game.

After describing how well we played collectively, cutting off supply to him easily and causing him to feed off scraps, there was no way he could have done better, as far as I am concerned. Mustafi and Koscielny were ready to eat him up yesterday. Still buzzing from that result; only blemished by the positive results of our other rivals.

63,000 inside Highbury, officially a 39,000 capacity stadium is amazing. Construction designs of today’s stadia don’t provide for possibility of an overflow (unless additions are made to the structure) and this can affect noise levels. Hopefully, Arsenal is giving consideration to that with the Emirates.

The Match of the Day broadcast (on NBCSN here) I’m watching at present (which is featuring Arsenal v Tottenham)– is this the same production shown in the UK? Meaning as far as the studio bits and taped segments?

Did anyone see a 2-minute prerecorded piece with Ian Wright shown right at halftime?
Seemed very much a predisposed hit piece based on Arsenal losing the match. Where Wright might have come off looking quite the prognosticator had that been the result.

Instead it’s desultory– shown on the heels of the best first half of football the club has played in a long time.

^^^ Those numbers represent the difference between seats + terrace standing vs just seats, I’m pretty sure. The change to all-seaters (mostly due to the Hillsborough disaster in 1989?…) created a permanent change to the experience of watching the game. And now there’s the television… In many ways, as I’m pretty sure guys like Kev and Retsub can tell us, it’s a very (very) different game. Though some things never change… Like the (huge) pleasure of winning the derby… 🙂

Thanks so much, Kev, for your man-at-the-match report… Excellent stuff and I wonder what got lost in the big (first) post… Losing a post sucks, but, in my experience, can also help to hone ideas and focus in on what was really important. Anyhow, like I say, your report is much appreciated. If you’ve got anything to add, I’m all ears (eyes?)…

The television bit, in fact, is what I’m doing this morning… They’re replaying the match in HD (1080) on our football channel but I’ve got it recorded from the 4K broadcast. It’s a clear (pun intended…) difference, though most notable when they go in for close-ups… The blur of players in motion still has a ways to go… Ah, the glory of technology…

It all makes me think just how much the game is (or must be…) changing, what with the move from an essentially local, in-stadium (and pub) experience to a global, TV–camera game, with the pub talk (or at least a massive amount of it) now taking place here on the interweb… It boggles the mind, really, and I could (and have, I fear…) go (gone…) on and on about it…

The cat is out of the bag re: technology and the next step has got to be doing the offside rule via the cameras instead of the humans running up and down the lines with their yellow flags. If you listen to the Spuddies, they’re blaming the linesmen today–just as we did two weeks ago in the city match. In both games, however, the results seem pretty well (exactly?) what they should’ve been…

The game has to balance tradition–a HUGE attraction and at the heart of much of its booming popularity–with modernization (American spelling…) and anything we can do to increase (at least the impression of) fairness… The technology is one thing, money is another, but nobody needs to hear me go on about that sort of thing again (and again)…

So, the NLD, in person as Kev saw it, or with the fancy cameras and television as I saw it (and, am watching it again)… well, it all makes for a pretty good Sunday morning…At least when the good guys come out on top…

The story of Arsenal’s demise is money in the bank for the pundits–on both sides of the Atlantic–I fear… Sad, however, that Arsenal legends feel the need to get on the bandwagon. The inability to give even lip-service to the changes in the game–and the incredibly consistent success at Arsenal over the decades–makes me sad… So many folks bemoan our manager’s role in “the decline” at Arsenal, whereas I see it exactly the opposite. (He’s the guy holding it together in a situation that could spin wildly out of control…) We’ll see what happens when he is gone, I guess…

As for the match itself–watching it again–the individual and team defending, including clearing the ball really stands out. Mustafi and Koscielny did incredible work, with both heads and feet, to push back the Totts and/or get us going on the break. Yes, converting some of that work into goals would have been (very) nice, but the fact that Cech was really only tested once (the Dier header he palmed away) speaks volumes. Ozil’s work on the ground to get us out of trouble stands out, but Xhaka–and later Le Coq plus the wide guys–Bells and Kola over the entire match–also do a lot of very good things in a similar manner even if they don’t blast forward with the lung-burning runs in such impressive fashion.

Those sorts of runs ARE impressive (esp. if they result in goals–as they seemed to do more often back in the glory days of the early aughts)… but controlling the space on the pitch is the key to controlling where the ball goes. This is what we did yesterday, and, if the ball goes into the net more often for our side than for yours, we take the points home. Again, exactly what we did yesterday. In the end, I often find 2-nil to be a very satisfying scoreline. Having a laugh at the expense of Spurs would’ve been great, but controlling the match and keeping the clean sheet, even if the scoreline kept us on edge for the full 90+, feels awfully satisfying…

Yes, the stadium experience is a lot different now 17tino, I know some of us can look back at things with rose-tinted specs, and tbf a lot of the changes have been for the better, it’s certainly a more civilised experience now, but in general not as edgy and I think that edginess added to the atmosphere.
With that in mind I am therefore a big supporter of safe standing, where I sat yesterday, everybody always stands, the away fans always stand, the stewards have long given up on telling people to sit down. That’s where the chant ‘ stand up if you hate Tottenham’ originated. I mean what can a steward do then?
The club and Islington Council, who provide the club with its safety certificate, have had the common sense and good grace to let things on the standing/sitting scenario slide, which imo definitely aids the atmosphere.

And yes 17tino, originally there was only seating in the upper tiers of the East and West stands at Highbury. That’s how Arsenal’s record crowd vs Sunderland of around 73,000, back in the 1930’s came about.

Finally (at some point I must stop re-watching the match and actually get some stuff done around here…), we now need to consolidate after yesterday’s result (and performance). Away to Koln on Thursday (our Thanksgiving holiday…) should be a good outing for the 2nd team but then we get into the madness of the December schedule with games every three days, most of them league matches. Burnley (away) and Huddersfield Town (home) precede ManU (home) starting a week from today. How many points can we grab from those three?

After that it’s the final Europa League group game (The Belarus team at our stadium) before the insanity of So’ton and West Ham (both away games) then Toonies, West Ham (in the league cup quarterfinals) and Liverpool before X-mas. Between that holiday and New Years there’s Crystal Palace and West Brom away. We should remember that the latter two matches were the fixtures that buried us last season. It’s a great run of games, which, on paper at least, looks fairly manageable, esp. if we can use yesterday’s match as a springboard for our collective confidence…

Cheers for the info on the standing/seating things, Kev… Tell me, what did the tickets cost yesterday vs when you first began attending? Terrace (standing) tickets must’ve been cheaper than those for a seat at Highbury, I assume… Then again, the per-mile cost of a cab ride has also gone up, I’m guessing… More smileys…

Final (final…) thought looking deeper into the fixture list. The reverse fixture (vs Spurs) will be played on 10 Feb. at Wembley (should we call it the North and West London Derby?…) where we’ve had a lot of success in recent years. 6 matches played, 6 matches won (even if a few required extra time or pens)… Too early to get too excited about it, but it could be one that goes a ways towards helping to settle the “balance of power” discussions…

Thanks Kev.
Always appreciate insight from inside the Emirates.
(Hope someday to make the pilgrimage.)

17HT– per the upcoming fixture list? I have less apprehension about the third (ManU home)– than the first (Burnley away). Burnley has quietly made good to the 7th spot at 6-4-2 for 22pts on just 12 GF/10 GA. Suspect a tight affair that could tip on intangibles. So while Burnley isn’t Spurs? The effort should be same. A let down at Burnley could dissipate the positives from yesterday’s thrills.

Kev. Yep Highbury evening games were brilliant then. I don’t know what the attendance was but I had it in my mind it was huge when Jon Sammels scored that cracker against a very good Man Utd side (best, Law, Charlton etc.. the only time I ever sat down was a match at Highbury when Charlie Nicholas wa on the bench. Paul Marriner was sitting a couple of seats away. Arsenal had just installed one of the first big screens next to the clock on the South Bank. I think it was called Diamond vision. my wife’s uncle (Spurs supporter) was part of the team that installed it and the tickets were complimentary.

With regard to losing posts. I noticed my avatar appears (puppy dog). All is well. When the default avatars appear, the problems start. Password problems maybe?

17HT I am sure Kev will fill you in on ticket costs. A friend of mine used to have club tickets (free, beer and a programme and use of the private bar at half time). It’s a narrow band of seats about 20 Ross deep above the the seats. His seats were great, just behind the goal at the North Bank. But £100 per game is a little steep for most pockets.
Finally can someone explain a little mystery for me? Why do Arsenal always kick towards the North Bankin the 2nd half? I know why we would want to , but surely the away side wants to disrupt this by changing things around. It used to be decided at the coin toss and at Highbury anything could and did have happen. I can only assume some sort of gentlemen’s agreement?

That’s certainly some run of games 17tino, fortunately all the top teams are also in europe and are therefore in the same boat, Walcott and Giroud are going to be busy as AOL can’t play every game, who knows Jack might even get a start in the EPL.?
West Ham in the League Cup will be tasty as David Moyes is sure to go with a full strength team and we’ll have a mix n match with quite a few youngsters, that’s gonna be tough.
I wonder who’ll be the manager of West Brom when we go up there?

Wow, not sure what it cost in old money when I first went 17tino, in pounds, shillings and old pennies. For some reason two bob – 2 shillings sticks in my mind, but it must have been cheaper, my ticket yesterday was around £62, you could get a top of the range season ticket for that price back in the late 1960’s.

I always went by bus and tube (subway) back in the day.
Only posh people got cabs in the swinging sixties.

Retsub, I’ve seen a game at Highbury from everywhere except the directors box and the luxury boxes at the Clock End, I wasn’t keen on the upper tier in the newer north bank stand it was a bit too steep for me. My favourite was the Clock End, I started there and finished there via the North Bank and West Stand lower.

Retsub, if I lose a post I never refresh because you lose everything I just use the arrow to go back, you may have to click a couple of times to go back but eventually it recovers your comment in the box.
Then I cut it, refresh the page and then paste my comment.
You need to add or delete a word or two to change it from the original, then post it again.
It usually works for me…

Kev: Retsub, if I lose a post I never refresh because you lose everything I just use the arrow to go back, you may have to click a couple of times to go back but eventually it recovers your comment in the box.
Then I cut it, refresh the page and then paste my comment.
You need to add or delete a word or two to change it from the original, then post it again.
It usually works for me…